Sometimes a villain is needed to present a challenge for our protagonist, this creates a foil for our hero and allows him to show a depth of character by overcoming adversity in order to fight for his ideals or protect his loved ones. So what happens when a protagonist is so powerful that he’s able to defeat something it takes hundreds of people to kill?

They create a villain that can outright cheat.

Kayaba Akihiko is the creator of the virtual reality that has trapped 10,000 players in. He also happens to be the final boss of the game. When Jesus-kun (or Kirito-sama) comes across him in the dungeon, Jesus-kun is forced to fight Kayaba one on one for the lives of his harem mates. But Jesus-kun has met his match, because even though Jesus-kun is so powerful that he can’t be killed, Kayaba is literally immortal.

Ajin are an immortal race that cannot be killed by any known means. You can’t shoot them, hang them or even starve them to death. It’s theorised that these beings are able to do so by a form of matter that is lodged in their bodies, which they can use for offensive purposes. The worst part is; they look human and can easily blend in.

Multiple characters in the series are Ajin, so what makes Sato so different? Before discovering he was an Ajin, Sato has already shown psychopathic tendencies by killing random animals to satiate his blood thirst. He later joined the military and become the equivalent of a black ops team. He is like Jack the Ripper or Hannibal Lecter, except he’s immortal. A psychopathic, military trained, immortal. Cue shudder.

Early on in the series, Satsuki is built up to be the final villain that Ryuko must face in the series as she stands behind a long line-up of bad guys in the form of her thugs in school. Each one of them seems to act like a mini boss while she herself is the final boss. Thus, it comes as a surprise later on when she’s actually not the villain, but her mother is.

Ragyō Kiryūin is the mother of both girls and she is more powerful than both of them combined. With the life fibres she commands, she is easily able to trounce both of them in her base form by herself. She possesses high vitality, endurance, regeneration and strength. She is also able to manipulate life fibres to utterly trounce anyone in the series. Talk about overpowered.

Devil Fruits are a one-time deal. After consumption, the user will gain a power but they cannot get rid of the power neither can they acquire another Devil Fruit ability. So if you’re stuck with something silly like being made of rubber, you’re just going to have to improvise. So what makes Marshal, or Blackbeard, so terrifying?

He has consumed the Yami Yami no Mi, making him into a darkness user. He has all the abilities associated with being a darkness user, but he also has the ability to steal the abilities of other Devil Fruit users as well. This means that he can accumulate powers and have potentially an unlimited number of Devil Fruit abilities. He demonstrated this by absorbing the powers of Whitebeard who pretty much destroyed the Marine HQ with a massive earthquake. Left unchecked, Blackbeard could easily become the Pirate King.

Byakuran possesses the usual powers that an extremely powerful villain would have. He has more control over his flames of will and higher physical capability than most characters in the series. All in all, he’s a capable fighter that can trounce almost anyone that comes his way. But that’s not what makes him terrifying or overpowered.

His key ability in the series is to peek into parallel worlds. In the infinite spectrum of parallel worlds, he can grasp the technology, abilities, and information that his alternate selves have mastered throughout the years. This has given him unlimited access to futuristic technology and powers that would be otherwise unattainable by a single person. In perspective, Mafia Byakuran can learn medical skills from Doctor Byakuran and CQC from Military Byakuran. The only thing more horrifying than a powerful villain is one that can grow even stronger.

Zeref is known throughout the series to be the darkest and most vile black mage to have ever graced the lands of Fiore. He has raised countless demons to raze the lands of honest people and is nigh unstoppable by any mage who challenges him. The usual package of immortality and regeneration are present as well.

His greatest strength lies in his death magic; that is so powerful and incredible that he himself has difficulty controlling it. When utilized, it can instantly kill any living thing around it, regardless of any defenses put up by combatants. Very little can counter this magic, and a by-product of that means that very little can stop him.

Father is the dwarf in the flask who became so resentful of humanity that he consumed hundreds of thousands of souls in order to become humanoid. With the power of countless souls at his disposal, he continued his quest to surpass humanity and took the next logical step in the equation, godhood.

Using a similar method to his previous conquest, he took the souls of even more humans and proceeded to capture the god of their world within himself. This gave him the unlimited power of not only the souls he captured previously but literally the god of their world. His power was raised to such heights that he was able to create a miniature sun at his fingertips.

Aizen is one of the most iconic villains of the anime world. Ruthless, cunning and manipulative, Aizen has received a zanpaktou to reflect his nature; the power of illusions. His control over illusions allows him to manipulate all five senses of countless individuals at once. He has dubbed it to be the Complete Hypnosis.

He has also reached the peak physical condition possible for a Shinigami. It is stated that he has maxed out parameters and is literally capped at that power level. That all goes out the window once he gets his hands on the Hongyoku, a wish-granting device, and breaks all his limitations and ascends into godhood. At this point, Aizen is so powerful, that he can’t even be killed.

When trying to end the series, Kishimoto-sensei has stated in an interview that he wrote himself into a corner and was unable to find a feasible way for the good guys to defeat Obito. Thus, Obito was destroyed by a stronger villain, Madara. But there was still no way for them to defeat him, so Madara was destroyed by a literal goddess, Kaguya.

Madara was already seen rag dolling a majority of the characters in the series, and he gets taken over by an even more powerful being. She can instantly kill anyone and even shift dimensions at a whim. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke, the most powerful heroes at this point, can even come close to scratching her or defeating her. In the end, they can only do it by using the powers of the past and even then, it doesn’t even seem to be an absolute victory.

Beerus is the God of Destruction. Full stop. He’s literally a god. We’ve had villains who aspired to ascend to godhood on this list, and some who even succeeded in achieving some pseudo temporal state of godhood that allowed them a great measure of power. But Beerus is a real life god that has existed since the birth of time.

When paired against Goku in a fight, he is able to defeat Goku with ease and still looked bored while doing it. And Goku was in Super Saiyan God mode while he was defeated. This easily highlights that his power level is not just above 9000, but it is probably impossible to measure his power level, period. It’s a good thing he’s not bent on world domination because our heroes have yet to defeat him even once.